I met these four friends as they were playing kid games at the archeological site of Penjikent, a Sogdian Empire, pre-Islamic Silk Road city that flourished from the 400s to the 700s. Me? I was there to look at the ruins. Because the site was abandoned and not built over, it’s possible to see the outlines of homes, shops, temples and more. The small museum there and the Rudaki Museum in the nearby town display some of the found art and artifacts. But the boys live near (continued in comments).